NITRO PRICE INCREASE – AND THAT’S JUST THE BEGINNING

On Thursday morning there was a meeting between team owners, NHRA,
representatives of VP Racing Fuels, various and sundry attorneys
representing different parties, and individuals from the federal
government.
 
The stated purpose of the meeting was to discuss the dangers inherent
to the use and transportation of nitromethane, but our sources report
that the discussion ultimately covered numerous subjects, some of them
not directly related to nitro and drag racing.
 
New federal standards call for a maximum amount of nitro allowed in a
racer’s pit area at any given time to be limited to 398 lbs. total. 
That means that while 55 gallon drums continue to be used, they only
contain approximately 40 gallons when delivered by VP (the number of
gallons may vary slightly due to the percentage of nitro in the drum).
 
In order to transport nitro special licensing and documentation is now
required.  Two of the attorneys present, Mike Young and Donna Diamond
of Western & Benshost, showed the audience a large binder,
reportedly claiming that its extensive paperwork would have to be
filled out and approved before an individual would be allowed to
transport and store nitromethane.  However, one competitor reports that
he was able to quickly and easily fill out the same paperwork online,
and is anticipating receiving approval in short order.

Doug
Herbert said he’s a drag racer and that’s what he does when asked by a
member of the media why he didn’t just skip the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Ca., following the
death of his teenage sons, Jon, 17, and James, 12, two weekends ago.

Herbert said racing every race is conducive to winning a championship
and capturing the title is something he really wants to do in their
memory. Besides, he said, they loved racing too.

Herbert is on a mission outside of racing for the championship. He
wants to ensure the message of safe driving gets across to the teenage
driving community.

Defending
event champion J.R. Todd’s first outing driving his Morgan Lucas Racing
Torco/Lucas Oil Top Fuel dragster proved to be a bit bumpy.

Todd struck the retaining wall of the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona
during his qualifying attempt just past the finish line on Thursday.

“Yeah, I’m fine, just upset,” said a disappointed Todd.  “It was either
the A-Arm or the wing collapsed and it just took off to the right.  I
could tell after the finish line something broke, now watching the
video something did collapse.  It’s just unfortunate; it was a good car
and we’ll just have to pull the backup car out and see what we can do
from here.”

Hoosier Thunder Motorsports announced today that the Amalie Oil / Torco Nitro
Top Fuel dragster, driven by team owner Terry McMillen, will be outfitted with
Mahle Clevite bearings and Perfect Circle piston rings for the 2008 racing
season. Clevite and Perfect Circle will be major associate product
sponsors.

"Talk about lucky stars lining up," McMillen smiled. "In early
December I received a phone call from IHRA's "Texas Tornado" - Tommy Dupree. 
When Tommy told me that Jack Wyatt (Nitro Funny Car driver) and I had won the
MAHLE Clevite / Perfect Circle Nitro Club program sponsorship, I was stunned!
MAHLE Clevite and Perfect Circle provide phenomenal parts for the racing
industry."

Funny Car provisional quickest qualifier Scott Kalitta wasn’t as
impressed with the fact he was atop the qualifying list as much as
merely having his car get to the finish line under power. That might
not have been a blessing as he trashed a Toyota Solara body by going
into the sandtrap.

“I was just exciting the thing went down,” said Kalitta. “After all the
changes that everyone has gone through in this class, to have it go
down was refreshing.”

Forget the off-season changes. Kalitta had problems of his own before the car even fired.

Jack
Beckman kicked off a busy week of preparation for the NHRA POWERade
Drag Racing Series season-opening CARQUEST NHRA Winternationals by
volunteering to speak to hundreds of school children at the Etiwanda
Elementary School, on Monday on the importance of education.
 
Beckman, driver of the Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car for
Don Schumacher Racing, divided his time between a group of first-
through third-graders and fourth- and fifth-graders, signing autographs
and posing with them for photos afterward.
 

SCHUMACHER, KALITTA AND ANDERSON LEAD QUALIFYING AT CARQUEST AUTO PARTS NHRA WINTERNATIONALS

Tony Schumacher picked up where he left off last season by clocking the quickest run of the day

Defending Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher raced to the qualifying
lead Thursday at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals at
historic Auto Club Raceway at Pomona.

Scott Kalitta and Greg Anderson also were qualifying leaders in their
respective categories at the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series event,
the first of 24 races in the 2008 season.

Schumacher picked up where he left off last season by clocking the
quickest run of the day in his class -- a 4.513 second effort at 331.53
mph in his U.S. Army dragster.

Jerry Toliver remembers his 2004 Pomona victory as if it were yesterday.

He’s won Pomona thrice, twice at the Winternationals and once at the
World Finals. However, the 2004 conquest was special. After spending
nearly 20 months procuring a sponsor, Toliver drove Schick Razors to
victory in their maiden outing.

Toliver, the nephew of Funny Car legends Art and Jack Chrisman, beat
the likes of the rookie Eric Medlen, Cory Lee, Del Worsham and Gary
Densham for the victory.

Pomona should be interesting for the BME Engineering Team

“I will comply.”

That’s the answer Top Fuel team owner Bill Miller begrudgingly
delivered when asked if his new Top Fuel chassis will adhere to the SFI
spec enforced by the NHRA when time comes for NHRA Winternationals tech
inspection in Pomona, Ca.

What did Miller have to do to bring the chassis to SFI spec?

“We had to – from a distance of three inches back of the rear driver’s
support upright, saw the tube in half,” Miller explained. “As far as I
am concerned destroy the reliability of the car at that point. We had
to insert a tube that was machined down to slip inside the
inch-and-a-half .095 – six inches long is the tube – so you would stick
three inches in the forward tube and three inches in the rear tube.
Then you’d weld it 360-degrees in a circle then mark each end to show
the inspector where the tube stops.”